WARNING!
This review contains spoilers! Do not read if you are prone to otaku spasms.

Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks

In the ruthless business of manga, young promising creators are at a premium. Muto Ashirogi and their rivals, including Fukuda, Nizuma and others, started an exciting youth movement for Weekly Shonen Jump with their innovative and captivating stories. Because of the influx of young artists into the lineup, veteran artists are finding it more and more difficult to stay relevant and in the spotlight.

Despite all that, lately that the veterans are making a comeback and beating the younger artists in the rankings to boot! What's the cause behind this revival? And how does this affect Muto Ashirogi? To find out, let's look back at one of Muto Ashirogi's past rivals hell-bent on defeating the duo in a manga showdown—Tohru Nanamine.

Though Nanamine's talent is undeniable, the tactics he uses to gain recognition and success are dubious at best. Instead of creating manga on his own through the help of an assigned editor, Nanamine chooses to pool the opinions of dozens of outsiders to craft manga. However, because of the overflow of opinions, his manga series ends up a muddled disaster of conflicting viewpoints and themes. Having taken a beatdown from Muto Ashirogi in their last go-round, Nanamine doesn't just sit back and lick his wounds. He's got a whole new process that's about to turn Weekly Shonen Jump on its head!

To test his new manga-creating methods, Nanamine recruits veteran manga creators who have all failed at one point in their careers. Though their storytelling skills are not quite up to snuff with the current artists in Weekly Shonen Jump, their artistic skills and experience are quite impressive. Coupled together with Nanamine's new-fangled methods, the end products prove to be immensely popular amongst readers. The flagship series of this new method is Mikihiko Azuma's intriguing and original manga series Panty Flash Fight.

However, what Nanamine doesn't take into account are the feelings of the artists he's using to craft his masterful revenge. Also, Azuma Sensei appears to have a connection to Moritaka through Moritaka's uncle. Can Azuma Sensei resolve his conflicted feelings between finally achieving personal success and rooting for his friend's nephew?

Find out in the latest exciting installment of Bakuman! Volume 17 is on sale now!

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